Door-latching mechanism



April 14, 1925.

A. CHRISTIANSON DOOR LATCHING MECHANISM Filed Nov, 28, 1923 FIG. 1

FIG. 2

INVENTOR Patented Apr. 14, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW CHRISTIANSON, OF BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA.

Application filed November 28,- 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ANDREW CHRISTIAN- SON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Butler, in the county of Butler and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Door- Latching Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invent-ion relates to door latching mechanism, and more especially door latching mechanism to be applied to railway cars of the general service type, where there is a plurality of doors in the bottom of the car, operated by a single shaft, said shaft carrying chains which are connected to the doors and by the revolution of the shaft the doors are raised simultaneously. The operating shaft may be arranged either longitudinally of the car or transversely thereof, as desired.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple form of latching mechanism, by means of which doors when locked will be held securelyin position and the strain relieved from the chains and transferred to the shaft when the door is closed and the load resting thereon.

To these ends my invention comprises the novel features hereinafter set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig 1 is a plan view of a. portion of a bottom of a general service car, diagrammatically showing my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2- is a section on the line 22, Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged details, showing the different positions of the locking mechanism; and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the locking mechanisn'i shown in Fig. 3.

In the drawing, the numeral 2 designates a door which is hinged at 3 to the frame of the car and is adapted to swing downwardly. Shaft t extends longitudinally of the car, being mounted in suitable bearings and adapted to be turned by power applied at one end thereof. Connected to the shaft 4, is a chain 5, there being two chains for each door. The opposite end of the chain 5 carries a bolt 6, which passes through a lug 7 on the latch member 8, which is pivotally mounted on the pin 9, carried by the door 2. A spring 10 is interposed between the nut 11 on the bolt 6 and the lug 7.

The latch member 8 is provided with the curved concave portion 12 which conforms DOOR -LATCHING MECHANISM.

Serial No. 677,547.

to the circumferential contour of the shaft 4, said concave portion terminating at its upper end in a rounded protuberance 13 and at its lower end in a tail portion 14.

The slot 15 is formed in a casting 16 on the door 2 and the bolt 17 carried by the latch member 8 extends through said slot 15.

\Vhen my improved door locking mechanism is in use to close the door the shaft -1t is turned and the doors are raised by the chain winding on said shaft. As the door raised, the rounded protuberance 13 of the latch will come in contact with the shaft f as shown in Fig. 4, and on the further raising of the door the said protuberance portion will have a wedging action and will act to press the door against the car body with a tight wedging action. IVhen the door has been drawn up to its closed position, the concave portion 12 will fit around a portion of the shaft as shown in Fig. 3, and the door will be supported by the shaft, thereby relieving the strain on the chain.

The movement of the latching member is properly guided by the bolt 17 moving in the slot 15.

The spring 10 is sufliciently stiff so that it will ordinarily allow the door to close without yielding to any great extent, but if the chains should wind unevenly so as not to be of the same length when wound, the spring 10 will yield and make up the difference, so that all the doors will be tightly closed.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. In car door latching mechanism, the combination of a rotarv shaft carried by the car frame, a downwardly swinging door, a flexible connection secured at one of its ends to said shaft, a swinging latch member carried by said door, a yieldable connect-ion between the other end of said flexible connection and said latch member, and a protuberance carried by said latch member in posi? tion to rest upon said shaft. when the door is closed.

2. In car door latching mechanism, the combination of a rotary shaft carried by the car frame, a downwardly swinging door, a flexible connection secured at one of its ends to said shaft, a latch. member pivotally mounted on said door, a lug on said latch member through which the other end of said connection extends, a spring interposed between the outer end of said flexible connection and said lug, and a protuberance on said latch adapted to effect locking engagement with a fixed portion of the car body when the flexible connection is actuated to close the door.

3. In car door latching mechanism, the combination with a flexible door-operating member, of means for actuating said mem her, a latch pivotally mounted on said door, a lug on said latch, means for yieldably connecting said flexible member with said lug, and means carried by the latch to effect looking engagement between the door and a fixed portion of the car body when said flexible member is actuated toclose the door.

In testimony whereof, I the said ANDREW CI-InIsTIANsoN, have hereunto set my hand.

ANDREW CHRISTIANSON! 

